Dear Parents and Carers

I hope that you are travelling well at this busy time of the year approaching Christmas. The students and staff are preparing to enjoy their last week of the school year. 

In this liturgical season of Advent we pray: 

Heavenly Father, your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us, a great sign of your love. Guide us as we strive to walk in that love together as a family and community this Advent. As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, bring us closer to each other and to your son. Give us the grace and strength we need every day.  Amen.

2025 Staffing Update

Our process of recruiting staff for 2025 is going well, at a time when there is quite a teacher shortage nationally. 

We still have one teaching position to fill for 2025, with this vacancy currently being advertised and hopefully filled soon.

However, following recent interviews for teaching positions I am pleased to announce that:

Mrs Naomi Scott will be joining Rosary staff from the start of 2025. Most recently Naomi has been teaching at Good Shepherd Primary School in Amaroo for the past 8 years.  Naomi will bring experience and ideas from working in one of our nearby system schools.  I offer a warm Rosary welcome to Naomi.

I would like to congratulate Miss Clare Henman on being successful in a teaching position at Lyneham Primary School for 2025. This is a wonderful opportunity for Clare to continue her early teaching career.  Clare has been working at Rosary for 3 years as she completed her studies and I would like to thank her for teaching Year 4 Rome in Term 4.  Miss Henman has built a great rapport with the students in this time and has taught their curriculum well.  I wish Clare all the best for the future. 

Mrs Diandra Abarquez will continue her maternity/parental leave in 2025 and look to return to some teaching in Term 4 next year. Diandra visited the school this term and we all had a chance to admire her beautiful boy Brooklyn, including her class Year 4 Rome. 

As mentioned last week, our students will meet their 2025 teacher/s next week.

2025 Community Council Thanks

I would like to thank the 2024 Rosary Community Council for all of their support in their governance role. Changes to the Community Council governance structure came into place  this year and the group has embraced this and made a positive and meaningful impact on the school.  We also welcomed a number of new members in 2024, supporting a process of ongoing renewal as required.    

Thank you to our 2024 members: 

Fr. Renoir, John O’Brien, Mara Pangallo, James Mathews, James Macpherson, Krystal Eppelstun-Lee, Fiona Slater, Fiona Hill-Stein, Tesse Crozier, David Batty, Raphael Higginbotham, Matt Rudd and myself.      

This year the Community Council farewells Fiona Hill-Stein after a number of years of service towards various projects for the school. Thank you also to Mara Pangallo for her contributions, she has been our teacher representative this year.  

Thank you to parents Justine Tansley and Catherine Garreffa for continuing their great work in keeping our What’s App parent communication network going in 2025.  This initiative is very successful in providing an avenue for parents in each year level to communicate and collaborate. Thank you also to our year level parent What’s App managers who assist in monitoring each group. 

Rosary Tree Planting Day - Thursday 5 December

60 trees for 60 years Project Completed!

Congratulations to the Rosary Community for reaching the milestone of planting 60 trees for the 60th year Anniversary of Rosary School this week with the final tree being planted in the junior playground this week.

This activity, launched to celebrate the school’s 60th year since opening, contributes significantly to the school’s grounds masterplan. Also this year contributing to the overall  plan, the oval’s watering system has been repaired and upgraded, oval grass re-seeded, access gates installed on the Phillip Avenue side of the oval and the beginning of nature plays spaces with the installation of a number of large logs and new tanbark.

Thank you to Community Council parent representative James Macpherson for all of his hard work on this project and the strategic vision to upgrade our student play and recreational spaces. 

In 2025, work will continue on delivering the plan including re-developing the area outside the Peace Gates, re-painting the quad and the installation of garden beds and a chicken coop to support the school’s agriculture club.

A sub-committee is being set up to help deliver this work – if you are interested in joining please reach out to the council via email at: rosarycouncil@gmail.com . With your support we may be able to organise some working bees in 2025 to add the finishing touches to some of the work. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

2024 Christmas Nativity Evening - 5.45pm for 6pm Start - Thursday 12 December 

We are looking forward to the new format for the Christmas celebration this year with a focus on the Nativity Christmas Story, presented in part by each year level in the school.  The evening will be seat up with seats in the quad to maximise the audience’s view of the students. The evening should finish at approximately 7pm. 

2024 Thanksgiving Mass - 10.00am Tuesday 10 December in the BlackFriars Parish Church

You are warmly invited to attend this Thanksgiving mass and End of School Year Mass.  We have much to be grateful and thankful for in our community and our families. Rosary School also provides your generous donations to the St Vincent de Paul Society to distribute to people in need at Christmas time. 

Thank you to Fr Renoir for his spiritual guidance and support in his first year in our parish. We are blessed to have you Father. 

Year 6 Graduation - Tuesday 10 December - Evening Celebration 

We look forward to a lovely evening with our Year 6 students and their parents at Ainslie Football Club to celebrate their primary years at Rosary.

2024 Final/Farewell Assembly - (Note: New Date and Time) 2.20pm Friday 13 December

At this assembly we will farewell our Year 6 students, other students leaving and staff leaving. This assembly will also include a leadership handover from our Year 6 students to the Year 5 students. 

Last School Day 2024

You are reminded that the last day of school for students is Monday 16 December 2024.  Tuesday 17 December is a pupil free day.

2025 Back to School Dates

• Staff return for professional learning on Thursday 30 January. 
• All students return to school on Tuesday 4 February, including our new Kindergarten students who start at 9.30am.
• 2025 Meet the Staff Evening is scheduled for Tuesday 11 February (Week 2)
• Our 2025 school calendar is expected to be printed and available for all families in hard copy by Friday 13 December 2024.  

Wishing you all the best for the week ahead.

God Bless

Greg Walker 

Principal 

• Semester 2 Reports Available - Wednesday 4th December
• Year 5 Assembly - Friday 6th December - School Hall 2.20pm
• End of Year Mass - Tuesday 10th December - Holy Rosary Church 10.00am
• Year 6 Graduation Dinner - Tuesday 10th November - Ainslie Football Club
• Dance Club End of Year Performance - Wednesday 11th December - Quad Morning Assembly 9.00am
• Christmas Nativity / Carols Evening - Thursday 12th December
• Final Assembly - Friday 13th December - School Hall 2.20pm - Please note change fof date
• Last day of Term for all Students - Monday 16th December 
• Pupil Free Day - Tuesday 17th December 
• OSHClub Care Availble for Pupil Free Day - Tuesday 17th December - Please book directly with the service

As the school year draws to a close, it’s time for our annual library stocktake. We kindly request all families return any books with the school barcode on the front cover as soon as possible. This ensures an accurate count of our collection and allows us to ensure that we have all necessary resources for next year.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Whole Day Absences

If your child is absent from school for a whole day or longer, please submit details of the absence via the Parent Portal. This should be completed within 7 days of the absence.  There is no need to adjust times for whole day absences.

If your child will only be absent for a partial day, the absence will be recorded as your child is signed in or out via the kiosk at the front office. You do not need to add an early pick up or late drop off via the Parent Portal.

Unexplained absences for your child will be displayed on your homepage when you log in to Parent Portal.

If an unexplained absence appears that you believe to be incorrect, please send an email to the front office for investigation.

Access to the clothing pool will now be as follows:

Monday - Friday - Before and after school only

Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who maintain the space for our community.

Please note: All donations of preloved uniforms (in good wearable condition) are welcome at the front office.

There are many extracurricular activities available onsite for our Rosary Students.  Please note all of these activities attract a fee and are delivered by external providers.  Please see the timetable below for details:

• French Lessons - Monday 3.10pm - 4.20pm (continuing) / Wednesday 8.00am - 9.00am (beginner)
• Action Tae Kwon-Do - Monday 6.30pm Children class / 7:30pm Adult class
• Chess Club - Tuesday 3.10pm - 4.30pm (Weeks 1-9)
• Zanshin Martial Arts - Tuesday 6.30pm Junior class / 7:30pm Senior class
• Artkids - Thursday 3.15pm - 5.00pm
• Italian Lessons - Friday 8:00am - 9:00am (beginner) 
• Musicorp (various instruments) / Piano Lessons - Friday 8:20am and during class time throughout the day
• Block Crafters - Tuesday and Wednesday Week 2 - Coding and Robotics After School Programme for interested students aged 8-12 years 
• Dance Club - PLAY - The Dance Agency - Tuesdays at Lunchtime from Weeks 2-9 - Kinder to Year 4

Please contact the school if you require further information.

Canteen Menu

The School Counsellor is at Rosary all day Mondays and Tuesdays during each school term.

How to make an appointment

If your child was seen by the School Counsellor last year and you would like them to receive support in 2023, we require you to complete a new counselling registration form. Please either contact your child’s class teacher or Greg Walker- the Principal for further information.

Similarly, new referrals and requests can be made by contacting your child’s class teacher or Greg Walker- the Principal for further information.

Parent consent for counselling continues to be required for all primary school students and will be sought and provided via email. Where parents are separated, we require the written consent of both parents. Once the referral has been received by myself- School Counsellor- I will make contact with parents on my next day at Rosary to further discuss the referral.

More about School counselling/how to access school counselling at Rosary Primary School

As part of the pastoral care program for students at Rosary, students have access to a Student and Family Counselling service provided by MaryMeadCatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn (MCCG). MCCG are contracted by the CEO to provide a counselling service to students and their families on site. There is no fee to access this service. The service offers short term counselling support (roughly up to six sessions per referral issue) to children and their families – the counsellor can also provide referrals for more complex issues requiring intensive or long term therapy/support.

The role of the counsellor is to focus on the emotional, social and educational well-being of the students. Counsellors welcome contact with students having difficulty with some part of their life, the problem does not have to be a big one. It is better to seek help sooner rather than later. Some typical

concerns that counsellors work with include: anger, anxiety, behavioural problems, low mood, family changes/separation, grief and loss, learning and educational challenges, parenting challenges, peer and other social relationships, school avoidance, stress and study skills. As well as individual sessions with students, counsellors can run groups, consult with parents and teachers and make referrals to other services and supports.

Student and Family Counsellors subscribe to a set of professional ethics that include duty of care and respect for the individual rights to privacy and confidentiality. The counsellors’ obligation is to ensure the safety, well-being and confidentiality of the student they are working with. All counsellors are mandated to report any disclosure or sign of abuse (including self-harm) or neglect to Child Protection Services. Outside of our mandated requirements, all counselling sessions are confidential and the details will not be discussed with other parties unless written consent is given by the client.

Sarah Foley- is onsite at Rosary Mondays and Tuesdays during term.